LOI Chapter 43 — Go Get a Room

Yan Zhi didn’t bring a suitcase, only carrying an SPL messenger bag.

After grabbing dinner at a local specialty restaurant, they returned to the five-star hotel where the theater troupe was staying.

“We’ll separate once we enter the hotel,” Rong Ke said, lowering his cap brim and furtively glancing around. “You go to the front desk and get a room. I’ll head back to mine.”

It was around 7 or 8 p.m., just after dinnertime. Besides Rong Ke and Yan Zhi, other colleagues from the troupe might be returning now as well.

Rong Ke didn’t want to be seen.

Yan Zhi agreed with a simple “Okay” and followed Rong Ke into the hotel.

However, he didn’t go to the front desk as Rong Ke had instructed. Instead, he trailed directly behind Rong Ke toward the elevators.

It wasn’t until they entered the elevator and Rong Ke turned to press the button that he realized Yan Zhi was still behind him.

Puzzled, he asked, “Didn’t I tell you to get a room?”

Rong Ke’s room had a king-sized bed, which was big enough for two, but given their current relationship, sharing a bed was out of the question. Besides, Rong Ke had sworn he wouldn’t let Yan Zhi into his bed.

“I’ll get one later,” Yan Zhi said nonchalantly, hands in his pockets. “Let me hang out in your room for a bit first.”

The elevator had already started ascending, so there was no way to send Yan Zhi back down.

Rong Ke figured that even if Yan Zhi got his own room first, he would still come to Rong Ke’s room anyway. So, he just led Yan Zhi to his room without saying anything more.

The room at the end of the hallway had two floor-to-ceiling windows. It was spacious with a jacuzzi by the window, perfect for enjoying the city night view while soaking.

Rong Ke turned on the TV, casting the eighth episode of “Patchwork Family” to the screen. He asked Yan Zhi, “Soda water?”

Yan Zhi sat on the edge of the bed and replied, “Sure.”

Rong Ke took two cans of soda water from the fridge, tossed one to Yan Zhi, then sat in a chair and opened Weibo.

As expected, the fans who visited him in the afternoon had posted their autographs and photos on Weibo. Now, in his super topic, people were organizing to snatch tickets for the next performance. According to the latest updates, tickets were sold out, and many were contacting scalpers.

“You seemed to chat with your fans for quite a while this afternoon,” Yan Zhi remarked, also browsing Weibo.

“They came from far away. I can’t just brush them off,” Rong Ke said, exiting the super topic and starting to compose a post.

A moment later, Rong Ke finished drafting his post. Before publishing, he leaned towards Yan Zhi, holding up his phone to ask, “Do you think this is okay to post?”

[Thank you to all the fans who came to see my performance. However, I don’t need fan support, and please don’t buy scalped tickets.]

“Change ‘don’t need fan support’ to ‘please don’t organize support events,'” Yan Zhi suggested.

Rong Ke propped himself up on one elbow on the bed, editing the text. “You really are a fake foreigner.”

After Yan Zhi’s polishing, the published Weibo post became much more tactful:

[Please refrain from organizing support events at the theater, and more importantly, don’t encourage scalpers, making it difficult for other audience members to purchase tickets.]

As soon as the Weibo post was sent, the notification count in the backend surged.

Yan Zhi’s phone also popped up with a special notification. He casually opened Rong Ke’s Weibo to take a look, but the next second, he abruptly stood up from the bed.

“What’s wrong?” Rong Ke looked up and asked.

“Look at the top comment under your Weibo,” Yan Zhi said.

Rong Ke thought his Weibo had sparked controversy, but when he opened the comment section, he nearly died on the spot.

[Keke, is this you and Yan Zhi? [Image]]

The image was very blurry and tilted, seemingly hastily taken with a phone.

The background was hard to discern with no buildings in frame, but the original poster added in a reply: This is the theater parking lot.

In the picture, two tall men were embracing and kissing. Although their faces weren’t clear, based on height, ambiance, and location, it wasn’t hard to recognize them as Rong Ke and Yan Zhi.

In the comments, only a tiny minority were responding to Rong Ke’s appeal. Most reactions were: What? Has Yan Zhi already won over Rong Ke?

Some frenzied Cough Syrup CP fans: YZ is holding RK’s head! YZ is definitely the top!

And some die-hard Rong Yan Forever CP fans still holding on: The Beauty God is a power bottom, of course he’s taking the lead /melts

Yan Zhi put his soda water on the table, zooming in on the image with both hands and said, “Why is it so unclear?”

Rong Ke almost choked. “You want it clearer?!”

He sat cross-legged on the bed, anxiously shaking his leg. “How can we clear this up? Should we say you didn’t even come here today, or should I just deny it outright?”

After muttering to himself for a while without hearing Yan Zhi respond, Rong Ke looked up to find Yan Zhi operating his phone. Alarmed, he asked, “What are you doing?”

“Posting on Weibo,” Yan Zhi put away his phone and sat back down on the edge of the bed. “It’s done.”

—Has he already clarified the situation?

Rong Ke suspiciously opened Yan Zhi’s Weibo, and his soul nearly left his body.

[@YanZhi: It is // @××: Keke, is this you and Yan Zhi? [Image]]

“What the hell are you doing?!” Rong Ke couldn’t help but roar.

If you asked him what he regretted most in this life? It would definitely be helping Yan Zhi set up a Weibo account.

“Are you going to deceive your fans?” Yan Zhi said innocently. “You’ve said before that you hate deception the most.”

Rong Ke’s blood pressure skyrocketed. “You’ve been pretending to be a bottom and deceiving me every day, and now you suddenly care about my fans?”

“That’s all in the past,” Yan Zhi’s tone was quite serious. “I’ve turned over a new leaf now, becoming a better person for love.”

Fearing he might die from anger, Rong Ke took a long while to calm down.

But when he opened the trending topics and saw #Yan Zhi And Rong Ke Kissing# exploding at number one, he flung his phone onto the bed. “I don’t want to trend anymore!!!”

Yan Zhi calmly coaxed him. “It’s fine. It was bound to happen sooner or later.”

Rong Ke had always considered himself emotionally stable. Even when Jiang Si cheated on him, he could process his emotions alone.

Yet, since meeting Yan Zhi, he kept losing his composure. Today, he finally realized this neurotic prince was his kryptonite.

“You’re right, it was inevitable,” Rong Ke calmed down, sitting cross-legged on the bed. “Come here.”

Yan Zhi tilted his body, leaning closer to Rong Ke.

“Bring your face closer,” Rong Ke said.

“Hm?” Yan Zhi didn’t move. “What for?”

“To kiss you.”

Yan Zhi immediately crawled onto the bed, bringing his face close to Rong Ke’s.

The next second, Rong Ke’s expression changed as he suddenly swung his fist. However, Yan Zhi was prepared. As Rong Ke threw the punch, Yan Zhi pounced like a predator, pinning Rong Ke to the bed. Without missing a beat, he said, “Domestic violence is unacceptable behavior.”

Obviously, he already knew Rong Ke would hit him before he even brought his face closer.

“I think you’re just asking for trouble,” Rong Ke glared fiercely at Yan Zhi, wiggling his pinned wrists. “Let me go.”

“No,” Yan Zhi said. “You’re too fierce.”

Who the hell is fierce?

Rong Ke, pinned to the bed and unable to move, was like a cat grabbed by the scruff – no matter how fierce, he had no attack power.

On the contrary, Yan Zhi directly overpowered him physically yet had the audacity to call Rong Ke fierce.

“You’re hurting me,” Rong Ke relaxed his muscles, frowning.

Only then did Yan Zhi back off, asking, “Where does it hurt?”

Rong Ke ignored him, flexing his wrists, and asked irritably, “Why haven’t you left yet?”

Yan Zhi stood up, went to the table to take a sip of soda water, then said, “I actually came to discuss something important with you today. ‘Actors’ Summer’ needs a guest performer, and the production team wants to invite you.”

The topic suddenly shifted to work, making it impossible for Rong Ke to chase Yan Zhi away. He asked, “What kind of guest performer?”

“It’s a guest appearance,” Yan Zhi sat down in the chair, dropping his playful demeanor from earlier. “You’d join one team and compete in acting skills against the other. It shouldn’t be difficult for you.”

Rong Ke said, “I don’t really want to do variety shows.”

“I know,” Yan Zhi said. “But as a guest, you only need to appear in one episode. I mainly want you to film the mid-roll advertisement for that episode to pave the way for your later SPL endorsement.”

Rong Ke didn’t respond immediately, considering the offer.

Appearing as a guest on a variety show wouldn’t hurt him.

The only irritation would probably be that Liu Qing was also on this show.

But if he could endure months of filming “Patchwork Family,” he could bear this, too.

“If it’s hard for you to decide,” Yan Zhi said, “we can follow our old rule.”

Although Rong Ke had already made up his mind, he didn’t mind playing rock-paper-scissors with Yan Zhi. He raised his right hand. “Alright.”

Rong Ke lost the first round.

Before the second round, Yan Zhi said, “Trust me, I won’t harm you. If you want to work with top directors, you need to increase your market value.”

Rong Ke asked, “What are you throwing?”

Yan Zhi said, “Rock.”

For the second round, Rong Ke threw scissors, and Yan Zhi won again.

Although their new agreement stated that Rong Ke would manage all matters between them, in reality, he still consulted with Yan Zhi. If Yan Zhi’s ideas were sound, he would listen.

Despite Yan Zhi just infuriating him, Rong Ke could still distinguish between important and trivial matters.

Yan Zhi sighed in relief, saying, “I knew you wouldn’t let emotions cloud your judgment.”

With work matters interrupting, Rong Ke’s anger had mostly subsided. He leaned back on his hands and said to Yan Zhi, “You can leave now.”

Yan Zhi remained seated, murmuring, “Getting a room is such a hassle.”

Hah, men.

When Yan Zhi changed the subject earlier, Rong Ke knew he was trying to stay. He showed no reaction, saying flatly, “It’s just going downstairs, not that troublesome.”

“We’re still trending. It wouldn’t be good if someone recognized me.”

Rong Ke glanced at his phone and said, “It’s past nine, there shouldn’t be many people around now.”

“Better safe than sorry,” Yan Zhi said. “If someone recognizes me, we’ll generate more discussion and climb higher on the trending list.”

Rong Ke looked up at the ceiling somewhat helplessly, then turned to Yan Zhi and said, “Just say it directly, do you want to sleep here?”

Seeing Rong Ke’s softening attitude, Yan Zhi bluntly said, “Yes.”

“But there’s only one bed in my room,” Rong Ke said.

“Special situations call for special measures,” Yan Zhi said. “Don’t worry, I absolutely won’t do anything to you.”

“I doubt you’d dare,” Rong Ke finished, then raised his right hand. “How about this: if you win, I’ll let you stay.”

Following their old rule, Yan Zhi naturally had no objections.

Two rounds passed, with each winning one.

Before the third round, this time Yan Zhi asked, “What are you throwing?”

Rong Ke waved his right hand, saying, “Rock.”

Yan Zhi said, “Okay.”

“Rock, paper, scissors—”

Yan Zhi threw paper, while Rong Ke threw scissors. Rong Ke won.

“Alright, go get a room,” Rong Ke said lazily, lying on his side and playing with his phone.

Yan Zhi stood stunned, staring at his paper. “Weren’t you throwing rock?”

“I never said I wouldn’t change my mind,” Rong Ke said nonchalantly.

Yan Zhi looked at Rong Ke, his eyes filled with shock, incomprehension, and disbelief. He moved his lips, saying, “How could you lie?”

Only then did he realize that when he had said “getting a room is such a hassle” earlier, Rong Ke had already started acting.

Acting as his previously soft-hearted self.

“Do you know what this is called?” Rong Ke said, feeling utterly satisfied. “This is called payback.”